Seeking to enhance their downtown area, the City of Harbor Springs developed a Downtown Vision Plan that will provide a wide range of living, dining, recreation and employment opportunities for multiple generations in this waterfront community. Wade Trim, with assistance from livingLab and Danna Widmar, led a four-day visioning process to gain input from more than 500 community members through focus group meetings and design workshops.
Key plan recommendations include strengthening the DDA, changing zoning and parking requirements, improving public spaces and better connecting the downtown and waterfront areas. The Plan will serve as a valuable guide for pursuing funding for implementation of the City’s downtown enhancement strategies.
Since completion, the DDA adopted several Plan recommendations including restructuring using the Four-Point Main Street approach, developing a new DDA TIF Plan and completing preliminary design work on the expansion of the Waterfront Park and relocation of the tennis courts. Initial design of a new waterfront park was presented in 2014 and the DDA hopes to move forward with development of a full set of construction drawings in 2015 and additional fundraising efforts geared toward a target completion date of 2016.
